Leo: There's nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child. ~ Erma Bombeck

Virgo: If I were a medical man, I should prescribe a holiday to any patient who considered his work important. ~ Bertrand Russell

Libra: Love the giver more than the gift. ~ Brigham Young

Scorpio: Come to me. I want to plow you like a Calgary driveway at Christmas. ~ John Cleese, "Monty Python"

Bonus for All Signs: The Supreme Court has ruled that they cannot have a nativity scene in Washington, D.C. This wasn't for any religious reasons. They couldn't find three wise men and a virgin. ~ Jay Leno

Sagittarius: The proper behavior all through the holiday season is to be drunk. This drunkenness culminates on New Year's Eve, when you get so drunk you kiss the person you're married to. ~ P.J. O’Rourke

Capricorn: When you like your work, every day’s a holiday. ~ Frank Tyger

Aquarius: Peace on Earth--You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom. ~ Malcolm X

Pisces: Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love. ~ Hamilton Wright Mabie~~~

Monday, November 23, 2009

No holiday could be more “Jupiter” than the typical American Thanksgiving. We overdo everything—food, football, friends, family and acid indigestion. We hunt and gather at our local grocery store until we have acquired an overflowing basket of ingredients, the makings of a feast fit for a king or queen. Don’t forget their royal relatives.

This bounty hunting got me wondering about the history of Thanksgiving. Long story short: In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast. Today many consider that meal to be one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. This feast also became a symbol of cooperation and communication between the English colonists and Native Americans.

While many people consider this dinner party to be the very first Thanksgiving, it was actually part of a long tradition of celebrating the harvest and giving thanks for a successful bounty of crops. Native Americans had lavish harvest festivals long before Europeans arrived in America. This is one of the many gifts we owe to the Original Americans.

Thanks to a declaration by Abraham Lincoln, Thanksgiving in the USA is perfectly placed when the Sun is in Sagittarius, ruled by Jupiter—the pre-game warm-up to the most Jupiterian of all holidays, Christmas. While our Gregorian calendar, offbeat with natural cycles, places the birth of Jesus just after the Winter Solstice in the sign of Capricorn, all the lead-up is Sag to the max—tinsel and merry, journeys to the mall, buying too much, and more eating and drinking too much.

That Jupiterian spirit extends to the other winter holidays based on faith from pagan (Solstice) to Jewish (Chanukah) and the holiday spirit of more secular believers who simply enjoy cheering for peace on earth and goodwill to humankind. Although Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving on the second Monday in October, it’s still during the harvest season while the Sun is in Libra, focusing on our relationship with others and how interconnectedness is what really feeds us.

The expression “jumpin’ Jupiter” originated as a mild expletive, but I think it describes how the ancient god Zeus (also known as Jupiter) would have celebrated Thanksgiving. I envision him in front of a 72-inch widescreen TV, watching all the games, leaping up in excitement during the hot plays, drinking beer, and snacking till he falls off his recliner. Don’t cheer for the other team. He has been known to throw thunderbolts!

“Everything in moderation, including moderation”

Many of us know this old saw that supports our excesses, as long as they don’t become—well, too excessive. It’s easy for me, as a person with natal Jupiter trine Mars, to overdo things with a flourish. What a perfect time of year to look at Jupiter in your own chart, both its gifts and challenges.

“Jumpin’ Jupiter” is also used to express surprise. I hope that will be the result of your journey to your personal Jupiter. Let’s take a trip, a Jupiter and Sag specialty, to discover your relationship to this planet’s bounty and drawbacks.

A Few Questions to Ask Yourself While Packing

This part of the trip is contemplative. While the metaphor involves packing, the real essentials you’ll be taking are a pen or pencil or your computer to muse on some of the following:

• What is the sign and house of your Jupiter?

• What planets does Jupiter aspect?

• Any aspect patterns? (T-square, Grand Trine, Kite)

• What happened on your last Jupiter Return?

• What were the icky parts of this supposedly great time? When you overdid things, whether you ate too much, drank too much, loved too much? What did you learn when nothing exceeded like excess?

My last Jupiter Return involved a new spiritual odyssey. I let my cosmic tractor beam lead me. Something felt “missing” in my spiritual life. It led me back to my spiritual roots and the church of my childhood, where I needed much healing in order to move forward into full realization of myself.

My Jupiter is in the seventh house, so there was something to discover about spiritual beliefs in relationship to others. Essentially, I got quite a lesson on the continuum of people who are both alike and different from me in their beliefs. From that introduction, I had to figure out where I fit in and where I belonged. I also learned how to stand in my own beliefs with loving kindness among people who do not see spirituality or the world in the same way as I do. These were definitely jumpin’ Jupiter/surprising revelations! Ultimately, they fulfilled Jupiter’s promise of expansion and getting to know “foreigners,” those whose ideas, culture, or beliefs are different from mine. I was delighted to learn that despite those differences, we were much more alike than different and many friendships could transcend them.

Next step: Once you’ve gotten reacquainted with the themes of your last Jupiter Return, trace it back to your other Jupiter Return cycles. Jupiter returns to its natal position every 12 years.

A Jupiter Journal

Inner journeys beg for a travel diary, just as we create travel journals in the outer world. We take photos; we annotate what we saw. That’s why I suggest that you create a little Jupiter Return Journal. Don’t rack your brain wondering what is important to write down. Write what first comes to you. Just as we're told when taking a multiple-choice test, the right answer is usually what comes to mind first. This is just as true when you consider the date of any Jupiter Return. After all, what you remember pops out of dozens of things that happened around that time. It must be important!

Using myself as the guinea pig (no permissions to obtain), here’s what I found out about my Jupiter Returns in reverse chronological order:

2006 – As already stated, this Jupiter Return brought me a literal spiritual journey back to my childhood religion and a journey in holding my core beliefs while honoring those who believe differently.

1994 - Chironicles newsletter was at its peak. It was my first foray into writing and publishing in a very personal way, where I was navigator of creating and disseminating information created by myself and others. I served as a teacher and mentor to those who wanted to learn more about Chiron during its early discovery years. It was higher education at its most practical, drawn from the laboratory of life. I also went on my first trip abroad to an astrology seminar in Greece. It was so loaded with blessings; this journey changed my life forever.

1982 – I was studying astrology and heading the production of the annual holiday party entertainment at my government day job. I was the team leader of a group that wrote and orchestrated a live show, personal to the audience, with countless belly laughs.

1970 – During this Jupiter Return, I enjoyed the blessings of my first professional job. It was more fulfilling than most people find at the peak of their careers. My work had a large teaching component. I played Jupiter to families of children with developmentally disabilities. Often devastated with little hope, I brought them resources, information and training. They spoke of me as a godsend, and I truly felt like Santa Claus.

1959 – We moved across town just as I entered adolescence, which may as well have been across the ocean for me when we left behind my happy childhood home. However, this journey kicked off all the inner growth expansion in my life and other surprises, such as meeting my first boyfriend. Little did I know then that 39 years later, as adults, we would marry. (For more on that story, read My Three Minutes of Fame.)

Putting It All Together

When I scan the very Jupiterian topics of my five Jupiter Returns, they involve love, inner expansion, teaching, astrology, international connections, entertainment, writing and publishing, and spirituality. These are the gourds, veggies and fruits in my cornucopia. If Jupiter brings joy and happiness, the ultimate joy for me must involve these topics, at best blended together in a big Thanksgiving feast. You’ll find the content of yours in your life review, too.

Guess what I discovered? My work now blends them all! I write and teach about love, expansion, astrology, and spirituality. I publish it on the Internet, the biggest long distance travel venue on earth. I do it in a way that’s entertaining.

When I’m down or blue and don’t feel the love, by Jove? Then it’s time to look to the configuration of my Jupiter by sign, house, and aspect for hints at how to feel in the flow of divine blessings. Trine Mars: Do Jupiterian things—give to others, act funny, write or publish something. Conjunct South Node: Find the blessings in my past, such as my reconnection with my childhood church and reunions with birth mom and my two most significant boyfriends/lost loves, one who became my husband. Your Jupiter configuration and cycles will tell you what makes you happy, too.

But don’t forget what gave you indigestion. It’s a compass in another direction. My excess is “all or nothing.” I don’t do anything half-way, and this takes its toll on me at times. The upside is that I “cycle through things” quickly, reap their benefits, and move on. However, I still overeat—literally. A work in progress!

Following my own Jupiter compass for expansion has brought me enough bounty for a lifetime of Thanksgivings. This holiday gives homage to my favorite feeling—gratitude. I invite you to take some introspective time after your big feast to do this exercise.

Thanksgiving Note from Joyce: At this grateful time of year, I want to thank the readers of The Radical Virgo for your part in making this blog such a success from its very inception this past Spring Equinox. A reader of my original article, “The Radical Virgo,” inspired me to return to writing about astrology. I actually didn’t think I had much left to say on the subject after a seven-year hiatus. Apparently, I was wrong! I never cease to be amazed that I’ve been able to recycle old articles to new audiences and continue to find inspirations for many new ones. Your support and reports of how this information helps you is what keeps me going. I welcome your feedback in our continued adventure together at becoming better versions of ourselves. Boundless blessings!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

There are many ways people handle the artificial construct we humans have created to organize ourselves—linear time. While the Great Kreskin bends spoons with his psychic powers, I bend time. I pack more into an hour than most people do in a day. Then there are laid-back types who would rather do as little as possible and put off until tomorrow anything that doesn’t have to be done today.

On the opposite end of stretching every hour beyond its limit is psychiatrist Carl Jung’s principle of synchronicity or meaningful coincidence. Synchronicity has nothing to do with squeezing the last second out of each hour you are living, therefore exercising control over it. Synchronicity is being at the right place at the right time—ignoring linear time altogether and simply being present, living your life, and minding your own business.

When we step out of linear time, we are in the realm of the gods and all the beings or forces that can create miracles.

In order to bring you just the right “coincidence,” these “people” can’t be bothered with clocks and calendars. They’re too confining.

My friends call me the Queen of Synchronicity. My stories are so fantastic; you’d think I made them up. Since I both stretch time and ignore it, I play both ends of the opposition between linear time and perfect timing. If this sounds like doublespeak and a bit confusing, think about how all great truths have some element of paradox. We need time so we can make the most of our experience on the planet, to bring ourselves together often and long enough (and at regular intervals) to accomplish certain things. But real magic can only happen if we step out of time...

...and you guessed it. Today’s world demands that we learn to do both.

Cracking Clocks & Calendars: Saturn, Chiron, and Time

You can say good-bye to time as we knew it. In the 1980s and ‘90s, we kept hearing about a paradigm shift, that time would accelerate. You’re not just imagining it, if you feel like you’re about to take the leap into warp speed and hyperspace. What in the world is going on? It’s something outer-planetary, but before we can make that jump to the trans-Saturnian planets, let’s start with Saturn itself, the ruler of earth, order, clocks—and endings.

Traditionally, Saturn rules time. Culturally, we know Chronos (Saturn) as Father Time bringing out the old year. He is in charge of calendars, watches, and clock-watching. The image that leaps to mind for me is from the wonderful adult fairy tale The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. In that book the Prince, a naive boy from asteroid B-612, is perplexed in his space travels by a planet full of accountants where all they do is live by the second hand of their stopwatches, obsessing over efficiencies, thinking all this is terribly important. (To the boy, who just doesn’t get it, things like love and friendship are what counts). The parody isn’t even thinly disguised. We know which planet he was on!

One of the most brilliant and mind-boggling book I have ever read is Barbara Hand Clow’s, Chiron: Rainbow Bridge Between the Inner and Outer Planets. [1] If Chiron is the bridge between Saturn (time) and what’s beyond it, we need to know Chiron’s relationship to time itself in order to understand what’s going on with this speed-up we have begun to experience since Chiron’s discovery in 1977.

“Chiron...explicitly focuses into Saturnian time higher dimensions ruled by Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto,” [2] according to Barbara Clow. Further, she introduces the concept of Chirotic time—being out of linear time—and states that Chiron rules synchronicity. In other words, to bring multi-dimensional consciousness down to earth—channeling, cosmic advice and direction, inspiration from beyond the limits of our own minds—we must be run (not walk!) out of time. We have to slip between the cracks of the clock.

We are running out of time. In 1995, theologian and cosmologist Matthew Fox said scientists calculated that “our ecological crisis will be irreversible if we don’t change the down-spiraling pattern within the next 16 years.” [3] Timing is scary stuff.

When asked how we can circumvent global disaster, Fox said the shortcut to healing the Earth is through ritual.

The shortcut to healing the Earth is through ritual.

Ritual involves taking time to honor the sacred—to honor turning-points (also connected with Chiron [4]) such as solstices, equinoxes, the Sabbath, and planetary ingresses, as well as personal turning points like birth, death, and everything in-between (Solar Returns, “coming of age,” marriage, divorce, and menopause). Time brings us together, but within a sacred ceremonial circle, time as we know it ceases to exist. It becomes Chirotic time, where we relinquish being controlled by clocks and calendars to let in other realities. In myth, Chiron was abandoned by his Father, Chronos (Saturn), so to tap into the great teacher/healer archetype that Chiron represents within each of us, we must let Kronos leave. We must become “time orphans.”

This is how we must learn to live in order to survive—and to have a future. Now I am going to use another”c” word (besides clocks and calendars) that makes some people cringe—and that’s channeling. If you think people are hokey who bring in entities from the beyond, I invite you to retain your skepticism, while at the same time, opening your mind to the concept that there’s more than one style of channeling. In the movie, Oh God!, George Burns as the Divine One says, “I don’t do miracles. They’re too flashy.” Professional channelers may be too flashy for you, and as Gertrude Stein said, “Style is everything.” Beyond making divine direction too “Hollywood,” anyone can have a personal link to All That Is, or any particular part of It, including your own Higher Self. Channeling has nothing to do with drawing crowds. That’s simply one style of delivery.

To tap into the great teacher/healer archetype that Chiron represents … we must become “time orphans.”

The act of opening to information beyond the physical is what Chirotic consciousness and being “in a state of Chiros” is all about. What I’m really talking about in this article is akin to learning the e-mail address of God/Goddess/All That Is (however you perceive heavenly help and helpers) and having a personal pipeline to Them any time you want. Who would argue the need for divine direction any time, but especially in these times? (Or the relevance of Chiron as a bridge between Heaven and Earth?)

Why Time and Perfect Timing Are Opposites

Saturn, which rules time and everything to do with it, is the planet of control. To bring in information—to channel it—requires surrender and a very open mind. Same goes for bringing in meaningful coincidences and experiences (synchronicity). Some people learn to do this for 20-30 minutes at a time in meditation, or perhaps create an altered state of consciousness while running; however, what I am talking about (here’s your Future Shock) is living in this consciousness most of the time.

I do not advocate throwing out Saturn and all our timepieces, right this minute, in favor of something totally new. Chiron rules evolution—organic change that happens a step at a time. As the leading planet in Time Evolution, Chiron is the bridge between Old (Saturn) and New (Uranus), between that which is stuck and unchanging and that which is revolutionary. Chiron’s role, in time and all things, is to help us synthesize the opposites within us. Barbara Hand Clow connects Chiron with the point in the brain where both sides merge—the corpus collosum. In that physiological midpoint, we weave the countless polarities within us: masculine/feminine, light/dark, old/new, and time/timelessness.

Going from the personal to the planetary, perhaps you remember talk, around the Harmonic Convergence, that from that day forward, time would speed up. José Argüelles is the Father of the Harmonic Convergence, where people did exactly what Matthew Fox prescribes—ceremonies at sacred sites to heal the earth. Argüelles described the August 1987 event as the “corpus collosum of history,” leading us to “the Armageddon Bypass.” If we’re lucky, the Chirotic chain reaction set up at those sites is like a time-release capsule of light that will cause a continuous chain reaction of healing. It started in time, but the effect is not linear at all. It went way beyond what happened that weekend, maybe even this lifetime.

We can learn and be healed (mythical Chiron’s main jobs were astrologer, teacher and healer) in direct proportion to our ability to get out of our own way and let information come through us. Good channels are only as good as they can surrender to being a conduit. This is not an ego trip. Good readers are good because they put aside their ego and let the information come through them. It is the epitome of open-mindedness. Because humor is healing, I share the crazy things I channel, as they alight, sent by (I am sure) many muses that enjoy playing with my mind. To have synchronicity—to know things—to get good cosmic direction—takes “cannelloni consciousness.” You know, that big tube-shaped pasta, open on both ends. It takes a big macaroni mind, where one end opens to the cosmic and divine (the outer planets) and the other end opens to our Saturn-bound minds and bodies, here on earth. Chiron is the pasta planet—the tube-shaped noodle in our “noodle.”

Saturn/Chiron Opposition and Chiron’s Perihelion

For over a decade, Saturn and Chiron opposed each other in the sky as a prelude to Chiron’s perihelion on Valentine’s Day 1996. This pair of phenomena—the Saturn/Chiron opposition and Chiron’s pass closest to earth—brought time down to earth in a whole new way. Time and Timelessness danced, each stretching itself to its farthest point on the continuum away from the other. We found ourselves living in a new world where time was concerned. The Internet was starting to catch on. One month, a few cutting-edge friends had e-mail, and within a few mere months, “being online” caught on like wildfire.

Time and technology were mating at warp speed! Soon our lives were overtaken by voice mail, faxes and e-mail. Communications that used to take days or hours now take minutes. We can virtually talk to anyone around the world, just like that link-up to God/ Goddess/All That Is, I keep claiming anyone can do. With telecommuting catching on, we have traded Saturn time-clock punching for a more independent, Uranian style of blending home and work—which is potentially Chironic for its balance (and synthesis of the best of old and new). We have clocks everywhere. We keep stretching time—doing more. We save even more time, taking classes on the Internet and shopping there more often than real malls. (Who has time?)

Saturn/Chiron Opposition: Time and Timelessness danced, each stretching itself to its farthest point on the continuum away from the other.

For a second time in recent history, Saturn opposed Chiron in 2003-04. By then the technological and resultant time changes that had begun in the mid-‘90s had quickened in more ways than one. The Speed-Up had become both the upside and the downside of the Communications Revolution. The better the tools, the more messages waiting, the more work we get done—the more work we make, because we have time for it.

Feel like your head is going to burst? If we don’t learn to get off the linear time merry-go-round and regain respect for life and its seasons, including a lot more downtime, we’re going to have a collective nervous breakdown. What we need to do is shrink our workweek and realize that there’s only so much any one person should do in a given time span, and that replenishment keeps workers fresh and creative, and their lives in balance. The prescription was in the sky as these changes went from breakthrough to commonplace (Saturn opposite Chiron). We, too, need to learn to do the dance between Time and Timelessness.

On the practical level, we would virtually solve our unemployment problems in the US if everyone worked four instead of five days a week. It would take some adjustments and re-evaluation of priorities to live on 80 percent of our salaries, but with the 20 percent leftover, there would be money to hire those out of work. The financial loss is really a myth. Calculate your costs to go to work each day, along with the money you could save with the extra eight hours—clipping coupons, calling around for the best price before your chronic time crunch causes you to buy things quickly, for convenience. You’d have more time to cook instead of that expensive habit, eating out. What if we each spent that day in nature? Playing? Imagine the clear-headedness you’d get by stepping off the treadmill and being close to the Earth, and the new respect you’d gain for Her and knowledge about how to do your part to ensure the “Armageddon Bypass.” (Think of the new and improved decisions you’d make, relinquishing the spur of the moment.) Our Protestant work ethic is responsible for the sad fact that Americans take fewer days off than virtually any other civilized country. If you are dying for a vacation, you’re probably right (the health implications of what we are doing to ourselves are frightening. Just think of the thing we have too many of and what’s the root of the word deadlines).

As Chiron reached its February 14, 1996 perihelion, we reached the climax of the time acceleration on Valentine’s Day. In its highly elliptical orbit, Chiron comes closest to the Sun in the sign of Libra, where it sojourns only 15 months. This event happens, roughly, only every 50 years—ironically, last time, when the United Nations was formed as a means for global peacemaking. On the 50th anniversary of the UN, it was time to make peace with time itself...

“A Culture of Peace through a Calendar of Peace”

...or so José Argüelles believes—the creator of that Ritual in Time to Save the Earth (Harmonic Convergence), co-founder of the first Earth Day, and the researcher who decoded the mysterious Mayan calendar system and the galactic nature of the Mayans’ reckoning of time (The Mayan Factor). In 1992, Argüelles, with his wife Lloydine, created Dreamspell: The Journey of Timeship Earth 2013. It contains the proofs and mathematics of using fourth-dimensional time, utilizing the root knowledge of the Mayans combined with information from the future. They are offering a completely new concept of time to benefit the biosphere and humankind. [5]

The Dreamspell Calendar is an alternative time-keeping device, in place of the unnatural Gregorian calendar. Based on a timing frequency, aligned with the cycles of nature and the galaxy, Dreamspell works as a 13-Moon, 28-day Solar calendar. Its proponents claim it enables us to tap into the solar and galactic frequencies of fourth-dimensional time, the same channels for tuning into déjà vue, synchronicity, and telepathy. Argüelles explains the time/timelessness puzzle this way: “Telepathy has everything to do with being synchronized in time which is, paradoxically at the same time, being synchronized in timelessness. That’s why telepathy can work so fast.”

Argüelles says, “Timelessness is all there is. It’s what we mean by the ever present here and now.” [6] He took his campaign to the UN to convert the world to the new calendar on its 50-year anniversary of the world peacekeeping organization—on the UN’s first Chiron Return. Not only is that timing synchronistic, but just about the time Chiron (timelessness), finished its long opposition with Saturn (time), Argüelles and his supporters were burning their calendars in a commitment to moving into the new time consciousness. In the Mayan prophecies, July 25, 1995, began a new holtun. A holtun is a 5-year cycle in which a planetary shift is expected to take place. He considered events around that time—Waco, Oklahoma City, the OJ trial, and the war in Bosnia--all to be the products of a techno reality where machines run rampant, wars continue, and we have a complete inability to control them. From his viewpoint, he Gregorian calendar promotes a mechanical, false time that is killing us.

Timelessness is all there is. It’s what we mean by the ever present here and now. ~ Jose Argüelles

“The biosphere is in red alert,” according to Argüelles, who believes the Gregorian calendar is connected to the concept “time is money.” We have to realize instead, “time is art,” so we can begin operating creatively and as one toward global social change. “We can actually take our lives back on this planet and put them into a much more benevolent, harmonious form.” It makes perfect sense that this would require being in touch with, in tune with, and in sync with nature. The Dreamspell advocates call this “living the rainbow.” (Chiron as the rainbow bridge.) [7]

Taking Your Time

I am both obsessed with, defiant of, and sick of clocks and calendars. Lately, I am more and more resentful of Saturn’s time limits. Like any person with a strong pull on her personal planets by the trans-Saturnians,

I feel evolutionary change ahead of many others, where I live (and lately in the pit of my stomach as my stress level rises from “too much to do” and playing Beat the Clock around the clock).

How’s your relationship with time? Is it time to rethink
it?

I know something has to give, and I don’t want it to be me. I have this image of a paddleball, being whirled above someone’s head. (Could that someone be Chronos?). Each of us is like the rubber ball on the end of the elastic string, whirling faster and faster, until finally, we break off into a new orbit—one I pray goes slower. (Sometimes I think this is the real purpose of the time marathon, to break the time barrier and leap into less hyperspace!)

In Sedona, Arizona, where I spent many a Solar Return, Chirotic time is the normal state. In Rainbow Bridge, Barbara Clow connects Chiron with spiraling energy, so perhaps the well-known vortexes of invisible swirling energy (that put Sedona on the map) make it so Chirotic—so timeless. I bend time there better than any place I go. A day seems like a week.

When “something told me” to go to Sedona for my birthday in 1993, I knew there was more to it than avoiding a Solar Return chart that was too 12th-house for my taste. After years of experience, I trusted I should just go, and the reasons would come forth, in their own time. The opportunity came up to write about Time just before I left, long after my reservations were made. It seemed important to see my friend, practical mystic Kadea Megara, who had recently begun to work with José Argüelles on promoting the 13-Moon calendar. (My watch was broken, and apparently, I found out, so was my calendar.)

Writing this article really got to me, in ways I have only hinted. For one thing, I convinced myself to drop my time base at my day job, sooner than later (before I drop myself). Now I am wearing a new and improved timepiece less often, and have both the Dreamspell and Celestial Influences calendars on my wall. I’m working on weaving the opposites—in my own way, trying to rectify the long Chiron/Saturn opposition that is still struggling within me—trying to make my own peace with Time. Chiron is winning...

Ultimately, out of the ashes of our burnout, synchronicity will rise as our truth. According to the Celestine Prophecy, that’s the sign of the times—and for many of us, of the new time. [8]

~~~

Author’s Update: Since writing the original version of this article in 1996, I have retired from my long government career. I sleep until I wake up most days, and I have reduced my watch wearing habit by at least 50 percent. Someone also wrote a book that makes a great PS to this article in its title, Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now.

[8] Redfield, James, The Celestine Prophecy (Satori Publishing: 1993). On p. 15, describing the prophetic manuscript, the subject of this book, one of the characters states: “The First Insight occurs when we become conscious of the coincidences in our lives.”

Monday, November 2, 2009

Astrologers consider Saturn to be exalted or best placed in Libra. When you see Saturn coming, if you cross your index fingers and hold them out in front of you as if to ward off a vampire, this article is your chance to put away the garlic, reconsider and discover some ways to make the best of Saturn’s upcoming transit through in Libra. Libra is the sign of relationships, legalities, politics, artistic refinement, “niceness,” and peace and harmony. Besides structure, discipline and testing, Saturn also brings wisdom, practicality, and order to these areas of life. I wouldn’t mind seeing a little tidying up, especially in my government and legal system. Relationships always need tinkering and tune-up. Later in this article, I’ll suggest some tools.

Who Is Most Affected

If you have planets in Libra or the other Cardinal signs in your chart (Capricorn, Aries, Cancer), you are likely to feel the Saturn in Libra cycle the most. During this time span, Saturn will form a conjunction with planets in Libra, square Capricorn and Cancer planets, and oppose those in Aries. Traditionally, these aspects can be considered “stressful.” I’d like to say that in a different way. Saturn will be nudging you to change, to break patterns that don’t work, and to establish new ones that do. Whether or not this is stressful is directly related to whether you resist your personal growth curriculum, as hinted in the sky, or if you decide to go with the flow.

My Perspective

In the High Signs series, I advocate living on the upside of the astrological signs. We can aim for the same goal with any planetary energy. Granted, getting the goodies out of every planet’s mixed bag is likely to be an evolutionary process.

You don’t just wake up one day, kiss Pluto on the lips, and expect that the enchantment will be mutual and that from now on; all your Pluto transits will be a steamy love affair. Or hug Saturn and do everything a good little boy or girl should and expect that you’ll now have the ultimate Good Cosmic Daddy each time he rounds a connection with your personal planets.

The gods must be honored, and transits are the figurative gods of change. They reflect the various aspects of the One Spirit in which we’re all joined as souls on a human journey. We need to do our inner growth homework in order, ultimately, to live on the high side of any planet’s influence. Any transit is easier once we learn to get with the program of that planetary influence and its mission to catalyze growth.

Transits happen. Our choice is to cooperate and make it easy or resist and make it hard. Transits from certain planets might not always be pleasant experiences, but when we respect them as teachers and trust the process they present, any planet’s transit ultimately is positive. It just takes the eyes to see—sometimes the eyes to see ahead to where you’re going rather than just looking at what you’re dealing with now. With time and cooperation, transits just get easier and the results better as you grow in the direction the sky is pointing you in.

Capricorn Credentials and Game Plan

I have a good relationship with Saturn. Saturn rules my Capricorn Moon, and I realized somewhere along the way that my emotional life would be miserable if I didn’t start appreciating Saturn’s positive contribution. My poor Moon is besieged with squares to the Sun, Venus and Neptune—aspects I had to learn to revision and appreciate as constant invitations to morph toward a new and more whole version of myself. The Neptune influence, in particular, makes me so sensitive; I feel that if my Moon weren’t Saturn-ruled in the solid sign of Capricorn to compensate, I’d probably have no emotional control whatsoever. I’d be out emoting on street corners and making a fool of myself.

With that personal example in mind of coming to terms with Saturn’s energy, read on thinking about how you’ll make the most of Saturn’s trip through Libra. We’ll explore some major areas of life Saturn will influence while it’s in The Scales and how you can help “massage” how these transits will influence you by using tools such as affirmations, meditation, journaling, and flower essences.

Tools of the Transit Trade

Affirmations. If you really want to reset your thinking about a planet’s influence and help it to be the most positive, given your need also to learn from it, affirmations are the way to go. Find your favorite list of Saturn key words and form affirmations based on them. Focus on those issues with Saturn that are most personal to you. Here’s an example of some I use:

Affirmations for Saturn Cycles

My urge to build is backed by Divine Resources.

I set limits and boundaries with others and myself in ways that are appropriate for me.

I like being responsible and mature: I am my own authority.

A caution on using affirmations: Most people do not use them in the most effective way. Affirmations were originally designed to include a step for acknowledging and releasing negative internal dialogue. Without this step, it’s like sweeping dirt under the rug. It’s hard to “set” the new intention for that big lump of old garbage that has not been taken out. For details on how to make your affirmations virtually foolproof, read my article, Affirmations: Part 2, Column 2.

Meditations. Add structure to your meditation whether using a guided meditation tape or Buddhist mala beads to count a simple mantra, or any type of meditation system with a format, such as Centering Prayer, a Christian contemplative type. New or just returning to meditation? I suggest starting with an article on types of meditation, discovering the category that you feel fits you best. Then search online further with that category and meditation, such as “mindfulness meditation.”

• Create your own structure by putting together a list of positive Saturnian characteristics you’d like to develop. Use them as mantras. (Stick with 3-5 to keep a simple focus.) Alternatively, you can envision yourself in your daily life operating as if you already have these qualities. This can be the opening visualization and bridge to your meditation. Examples: wise, realistic, grounded, responsible, disciplined.

• Listen to Saturn themed music when you meditate. Examples: Echoes from Saturn by Michelle Costa, Saturn Returns by Alex Theory, or the Saturn track from Holst’s The Planets. (Visit Amazon and search for Saturn under Music for more options.) What does this music evoke in you? Journal your thoughts and feelings afterwards. Within these observations lies guidance for the restructuring Saturn is asking of you now. That brings me to the next suggestion …

Journaling. Keeping a journal is an invaluable guidebook to your own life. (Check out my article, Journals: The Sort-It Detail.) When Saturn touches our horoscopes by making a significant aspect, order is one of the hallmarks of this particular growth nudge. I like to think of Saturn as the force that helps me get my act together. Journaling indeed helps you with those sort-it details.

Flower Essences. If you aren’t already familiar with these small-but-mighty tools for transformation, there’s no time like a Saturn cycle for an introduction! My article, FLOWER ESSENCES: Emotional First Aid, Boomer-Plus Edition may be geared toward those born between 1946-64, but since Saturn is connected with aging, saging, and maturing, this perspective works great for anyone who wants to derive wisdom from their Saturn cycles.

If looking at flower essences by planetary influences, it is as important to consider the planet transiting Saturn is aspecting. That means there are many possible choices of flower essences. Here are some specific essences and/or articles to consider during Saturn cycles:

• Plants and Planets Formulas by Desert Alchemy give you the opportunity to take its Saturn Cycles blend with the formula for any other planet in aspect to Saturn by transit: Sun, Venus, Mars, for example.

• Sage by FES Quintessentials may be the most generic “positive Saturn” essence anyone can take during these cycles. Wisdom is the ultimate Saturn characteristic. This remedy helps us discover the inner wisdom within our life experiences. It helps us find inner contentment and life’s meaning. Who wouldn’t want a dose of that good medicine?

“Out in the World”

Whether or not Saturn is lighting up your chart in particular by its transit through Libra, it will be doing its work in the world in general. Here are some areas of influence with the kinds of changes we can anticipate:

Relationships. Relationships tend to solidify with Saturn. No long-term relationship is likely to survive without a strong Saturn link in the synastry between two people. With that in mind, Saturn in Libra tends to make people want to put their relationships into more solid form, to make commitments. At the very least, they will want to define relationships—or redefine them. Partnerships that don’t have Libra’s loving kindness or fair balance are likely to hit the rocks. They will either perish or restore themselves through the hard work of picking up the pieces to rebuild on a firmer foundation. Commitment and cooperation of both parties will be mandatory, as they are the sole reconstruction crew—add a counselor, if they use one (and it’s a good time to do so). These comments apply to all kinds of partnerships, whether business, personal, or organizational. There may also be lessons to learn and past patterns to right--the consequences of being too nice or indecisive at the expense of the quality of the partnership. In this case, a stance of “no more Mr. or Ms. Nice Guy” will benefit the relationship by pointing to the nitty-gritty issues that need to be resolved to make it work.

Aesthetics and Art. Saturn in Libra brings the desire to organize and bring order and beauty out of chaos. If you’re artistically inclined in any way, this is a great time to put your concepts into form, especially if you have planets in Libra in your chart. If you are a busy modern person whose personal space has suffered from collected “junk” for lack of time to attend to regular pick-up, Saturn will urge you to get things in order and give you an injection of Taskmaster to get it done. It’s not like a Virgo housework tizzy; it’s about creating the safe and orderly space where your creativity can cut loose. This is applicable to personal space in the most literal sense (scungy garage, yard that looks like a natural disaster struck, home office in shambles) to your inner space (a desire to clean negativity out of your energy field and invite in higher thoughts and interactions). You may find yourself wanting to redecorate and hang more pictures that reflect an oasis of beauty and inspiration in your home or office.

Legalities. Since it’s so topical to Libra, I expect there will be changes in same-sex marriage laws that reflect a fairer solution for all concerned that are motivated from upholding civil rights not religious opinion. In general, I expect clearer delineation of what the separation of church and state really means, and where it needs to evolve to support people in the 21st Century.

This goes for balancing other aspects of the relationship between the government and its citizens, such as the health care debate. (Libra loves debate! With their ability to see both sides of an issue, they can even have great arguments when talking to themselves.) While health care is a very Virgoan subject—the sign Saturn has just transited, reflecting why the issue has been stirred up of late—the crux of the matter is fairness and the intrinsic value of human life and a country’s citizens. Affordable health care is an inalienable right. I watched my sister die because of decisions she made (actually didn’t make) based on her lack of health care insurance. An estimated 22,000 Americans die annually for the same reason. [1] This is unconscionable in a supposedly progressive nation. This aspect of “government for the people and by the people” needs fixing, if we’re to hold our heads up as a “humanitarian” nation, first to our own citizens.

I expect that whatever the outcomes, we will begin to remember during the next two years that Lady Justice wears a blindfold and the Scales are balanced impartially.

Politics. In case we haven’t seen enough political scandals yet involving “unsanctioned relationships,” we may see even more, but ultimately, during this cycle, I suspect we’ll balance the way we view this “dirty laundry.” Many people around the world think Americans are completely out of touch with reality to place so much emphasis on the personal lives of politicians. It’s tragic to think of how many careers have been ruined or seriously tarnished by marital infidelity or other sexcapades among fully functioning leaders who are often, otherwise, out there “doing good.” Will we use Saturn’s maturity to separate a politician’s public and private life? Or become even tougher on offenders, insisting that private/public life be joined in holy deadlock? Perhaps we will get out of other people’s bedrooms and tend more to our own. After all, they say politics makes strange bedfellows.

Peace and Harmony. As of this writing, headlines read “Obama Peace Bid Flounders,” referring to attempts at Middle East peace negotiations. The U.S. President’s win in wartime of a Nobel Peace Prize was ironic on the cusp of Saturn in Libra. As pointed out in the New York Times editorial, The Peace Prize, U.S. President Obama has yet to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He’s a long way off from an orderly withdrawal from the Iraq, and has not yet set a strategy for Afghanistan. Still, he has denounced torture and made a good start on climate change. Less than a year in office, his commitment to make change is being noticed and encouraged—at least by the Nobel Peace Prize committee. While President Obama himself felt he did not deserve the prize, it sets a high bar for achievement in an administration that has already taken on change head-on.

There is an additional factor that comes into play. In the U.S. birth chart, Saturn is at 14 Libra. The country is coming up on a Saturn Return. [2] Saturn returns, retrogrades, and then returns again to its own place in the U.S. chart from December 2010 until August 2011. When individuals experience a Saturn Return, it is a time of forming new structures and commitments. Same with countries. In fact, when a young man or woman reaches his or her first Saturn Return at age 30, we often think of it as a time for “settling down.”

It will be fascinating to observe how things “settle down” in the area of war and peace. At least as far as President Obama is concerned, he has already gotten a large vote, if not nudge, of confidence in the Nobel Peace prize.

We can only hope that the outcome proves, once again, that Saturn is exalted—at its best—in Libra.
~~~

[2] There is much debate and variance among astrologers on the chart of the USA. I use the Sibley chart (named after the man who first proposed it, Ebenezer Sibley, 1751-1789). Data: 4-Jul-1776 at 5:10 pm, Philadelphia, PA.

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What is a Radical Virgo?

To learn the characteristics of a Radical Virgo, read Joyce Mason’s article, “The Radical Virgo.” In a nutshell, these Virgos are not the old fussbudget stereotype—no Felix Ungers or Adrian Monks here. Radical Virgos have the potential to change the world through their ability to develop and discover their unique pattern, becoming true human beings—not “human doings.” Radical Virgos give service in a whole new way by contributing to their community and world what they were designed to give. When we each do that, we have made heaven on earth. It’s like having all the cogs in the great wheel of creation turning like they were just oiled!

You don't even have to be a Sun Virgo to have the characteristics of a Radical Virgo, though any planets in the V-sign help. You don’t join this club. You recognize that you already belong.

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Who is "The Radical Virgo?"

Joyce Mason has Sun in the last degree of Virgo, three planets in Libra, Taurus Rising and a Capricorn Moon. She's a "PUNC," or a person with a prominence of the outer planets Pluto, Uranus, Neptune--add bridging and healing Chiron. (See her Outerplanetary People series for more on PUNCs.) Joyce is often mistaken for an Aquarius/ Sagittarius blend. Even if you don’t speak astrology, that makes sense on some symbolic level because they both end in “ius.” She believes that I and Us are one in the same—and celebrates the human spirit in which we’re all joined.

First and foremost a writer, Joyce was a consulting astrologer, tarot reader, dreamworker, and flower essence practitioner for 25 years. Her astrological specialties are the sign of Virgo and the centaur planet, Chiron. She writes on these and many other topics. Read her complete bio and astrology articles on her Writer Joyce Mason website.

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